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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Dinah on January 5, 2003, at 13:07:51
I wish that I had the ability to find my sense of safety in God. Currently my therapist is sort of the embodiment of safety for me. I know full well that his power to make me feel safe is power I gave him. He hasn't any magical powers on his own. My faith in him is what makes him able to make me feel safe and to soothe me.
I know that it would be much wiser to put my faith in God. To give God the power in my life to make me feel safe. To give God the power in my life to soothe me. After all, I don't have to worry about God moving out of town or anything.
But I just can't do it. I see people all around me who are able to do it and I just can't. I find many things in God, but not a sense of safety. And I don't know how to give God that power. It's frustrating.
Posted by rayww on January 6, 2003, at 1:42:32
In reply to Finding Safety in God, posted by Dinah on January 5, 2003, at 13:07:51
You express that so perfectly it's hard to muss with a response - Other than to say, don't compare yourself with others. One never knows the whole other side.
Actually, Dinah, I have never known anyone who could express themself quite the way you do. You're amazing.
Posted by Noa on January 6, 2003, at 11:09:28
In reply to Re: Finding Safety in God » Dinah, posted by rayww on January 6, 2003, at 1:42:32
I agree with Ray.
I read your post yesterday and have been trying to work out in my mind how to respond thoughtfully. I think you touched on something I experience, too--wishing I could believe in something so certain as the belief that so many religious people do.
But that is not me, and like Ray said, I guess I have to not compare myself to others.
What I get from religion is not really about God. When I am able to connect religiously, which is not often in recent years, it is a connection to the people, the culture, the history, the motivation, the feelings and desires, and especially the awe and wonder that they experienced and we experience, and around which religion developed. I can connect with the prayers if I think about the beautiful language and what drove the poets to write what they wrote--thinking about how they were struggling with the same human challenges and mysteries of the universe that I struggle with. In other words, I guess I am connecting not with an answer, but with the questions.
But it does still require tolerating a great deal of uncertainty, that is for sure. And I believe we humans are built/wired to seek that safety and certainty--that is why we have theological beliefs and religions, no? So, I try to accept that I have two contradictary things going on in my mind--1)a hard-wired need to believe in something as certain as a god and 2)lack of such belief. Mostly I don't think about all this too much, but when I do, I do have a small measure of anxiety about it, but then I tell myself that this is part of being human--not knowing, and that it is ok, that, despite the wish to have more certainty, I can--and have to--live with the uncertainty.
Posted by Noa on January 6, 2003, at 11:14:15
In reply to Re: Finding Safety in God, posted by Noa on January 6, 2003, at 11:09:28
It seems like a few of us are trying to have more discussion here that might be a little different than before, so I wondered if you want to join in. On PBA, you wrote:
"Now is probably a good time because my faith has left me. Actually, I left it and right now, I could use it."
I think many of us are struggling with similar things.
Posted by Dinah on January 6, 2003, at 19:36:06
In reply to Re: Finding Safety in God » Dinah, posted by rayww on January 6, 2003, at 1:42:32
Thank you, Ray, that's very kind.
I think that maybe I'm not mature enough to put my faith or to find safety in something non-corporeal. :(
Posted by Dinah on January 6, 2003, at 19:39:32
In reply to Re: Finding Safety in God, posted by Noa on January 6, 2003, at 11:09:28
I connect most with God when I'm praising him or when I'm doing something in His service.
I seem incapable of forming a personal relationship with Him. Come to think of it, I'm not great at forming personal relationships with people either, so maybe the latter has something to do with the former.
But I wish I could feel about God that way.
Perhaps I should wish to find the sense of safety within myself.
This is the end of the thread.
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